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0 sats \ 5 replies \ @Bell_curve 30 Aug \ parent \ on: Which U.S. Industries Spend the Most on Lobbying? charts_and_numbers
Pharma spent $383 Million on lobbying in 2023.
The lobbying amount is a small portion of a billion dollar industry.
Medicare and Medicaid spending is over a Trillion dollars per fiscal year.
The total annual budget for the federal government is over 6 Trillion dollars.
Total annual GDP is almost 30 Trillion dollars.
The amount spent on lobbying is peanuts.
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It was more than 500k, maybe only 500k was reported.
His wife was also a big DNC donor.
Federal prosecutors who built a case against Rich were irate by his pardon on Clinton's last day in office.
Clinton's critics alleged that Rich's pardon had been bought, as Denise Rich had given more than $1 million[37] to Clinton's political party (the Democratic Party), including more than $100,000 to the Senate campaign of the president's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and $450,000 to the Clinton Library foundation during Clinton's time in office.[32]
edit: I forgot Eric Holder was also involved in the Rich pardon!
Rich's lawyer, Jack Quinn, had previously been Clinton's White House Counsel and chief of staff to Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, and had had a close relationship with Holder.[33] According to Quinn, Holder had advised that standard procedures be bypassed and the pardon petition be submitted directly to the White House
Marc Rich received a pardon from U.S. President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001, Clinton's last day in office.[6][15] The pardon became controversial after reports surfaced that Denise Rich had made donations totalling more than $1 million to the Democratic Party and the Clinton Presidential Center.[6][15] At a congressional hearing into whether the pardon was granted in exchange for her contributions, Rich invoked the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which denies the government power to compel self-incrimination.[6][15]
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The ROI for companies tho is wild and what they chase. I've seen things from 1,000% returns to 22,000% returns according to a quick google. One example even showed that for every dollar spent companies were getting and average of $760 in federal support and/or tax benefits
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The root of the problem is a bloated federal budget
Lobbying isn't the problem per se
Lobbying exists in Sacramento and Austin and the other 48 state capitals.